h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

🆕 blog! “Where you can (and can't) use Emoji in PHP”

I was noodling around in PHP the other day and discovered that this works: <?php $🍞 = "bread"; echo "Some delicious " . $🍞; I mean, there's no reason why it shouldn't work. An emoji is just a Unicode character (OK, not just a character - but we'll get on to that), so it should […]

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/04/where-you-can-and-cant-use-emoji-in-php/
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#emoji #php #unicode

So what do you need to talk to a $100 billion space station? As it turns out, about $60 worth of stuff will do. https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/listening-to-the-iss-on-the-cheap/

I haven't seen Dickie for ages, but we played 5-a-side together 10, 15 years ago.

His memories of being at Hillsborough.

https://dickiefelton.com/2024/04/15/we-were-the-child-survivors-of-britains-worst-sporting-disaster-yet-quickly-became-the-accused/

I didn't go to it, but remember one of my schoolmates was there, in the upper stands luckily for him.

#JFT97 #DontBuyTheSun #Hillsborough

I don't often talk about where I work (it's nice to use social media for non-work things), but I actually work with some lovely people doing some really cool and meaningful things. And, we're currently hiring.

If you're a UK-based software engineer (Python/JavaScript) or researcher and looking for something remote/hybrid, please take a look.

https://www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2024/04/opensafely-software-engineering-vacancies/

https://www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2024/04/research-vacancies/

Here's a bit about how the tech teams work too: https://www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2024/04/the-opensafely-tech-teams-work-pipeline/

#GetFediHired

🎉 Exciting news! After 5 years away, OggCamp, the ultimate unconference for open source and free culture enthusiasts is back for a triumphant return in 2024! 🌟

🗓️ Join us at The Manchester Conference Centre on October 12th and 13th.

🚀 Get ready for a weekend filled with innovation, collaboration, and community spirit!

🔗 Stay tuned for the Call for Papers (CfP) and ticket announcements – watch this space! 🎟️

#OggCamp2024 #OpenSource #TechConference #Manchester

Our robot agility work is featured on the cover of the new issue of Science Robotics on legged robots.

🗼 With the publication of the candidates for Blackpool South, we have now compiled a full set of candidates for the English and Welsh elections on 2 May.

🧮 That's 10,662 candidates across 2,015 ballots: councillors, mayors, PCCs, London AMs, and one MP.

🗳️Find out who's on your ballot at http://WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk!

✨Enormous thanks to our amazing volunteers who worked through the day and night to get the data into our system.

👨‍💻 The data is available to download here: https://candidates.democracyclub.org.uk/api/docs/csv/

With local elections upon us, and a general election coming sometime soon, a reminder that https://electionleaflets.org/ is a really useful #UKPolitics resource for seeing what candidates are parties are saying across the country. It relies on people uploading leaflets they get, so if you do get some, please pause to take a snap of them before they go into the recycling!

Curious about using 'public domain' British Library Flickr images? We've answered some common questions https://blogs.bl.uk/digital-scholarship/2024/04/curious-about-using-public-domain-british-library-flickr-images.html

#Flickr #PublicDomain #FreeImages #illustrations #Commons

🗓️ This Friday is SOPN DAY!

4pm on 5 April is the deadline for people to stand as candidates in the English & Welsh local, Mayoral and PCC elections.

Between 5 and 8 April, councils will publish the official candidate lists, Statements of Persons Nominated (SoPN).

Each year our amazing volunteers lend a hand extracting this information from PDFs and into our system, allowing voters to find their ballot via a postcode search.

It's a big task, and anyone can take part: https://candidates.democracyclub.org.uk/volunteer/

Does anyone have resources for restoring British phone boxes?

I see there are a few companies online selling parts, but I'm curious if there is any good documentation available, official or otherwise.

This will likely be something of a challenge to do in the US, but will be really cool if done the proper way.

Global Warming Is Slowing the Earth's Rotation.

Negative leap second approaching; appalling shitshow to result.

"This is another one of those 'this has never happened before' things that we're seeing from global warming: the idea that this effect is...
https://jwz.org/b/ykOa

Well, this is a transcendent level of evil: Facebook bought a VPN company and deployed it, in part, to spy on its users.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/26/facebook-secret-project-snooped-snapchat-user-traffic/

It's a reminder that VPNs have their own risks, beyond technical ones if operated incompetently -- namely, that you have to trust the VPN company itself.

Over 2,000 candidates have now declared their intention to stand in the next UK parliamentary general election.

Browse the full list:
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/ppcs/

#ukpolitics #elections

Mythic Beasts is now certified by the Green Web Foundation. We've been this green for many years now - just finally done the work to get the certificate. https://www.mythic-beasts.com/blog/2024/03/25/green-hosting/